the twin-sisters, who wept by the bier of Osiris, and that she would
rather endeavor to earn bread by the labor of her hands for herself and
Irene--for that Irene should do any real work never entered her mind--at
Alexandria, where even the blind and the maimed could find occupation.
Even this prospect, which only yesterday had terrified her, began now
to smile upon her, for it opened to her the possibility of proving
independently the strong energy which she felt in herself.

Now and then the figure of the Roman rose before her mind's eye, and
every time that this occurred she colored to her very forehead. But
to-day she thought of this disturber of her peace differently from
yesterday; for yesterday she had felt herself overwhelmed by him with
shame, while to-day it appeared to her as though she had triumphed over
him at the procession, since she had steadily avoided his glance, and
when he had dared to approach her she had resolutely turned her back
upon him. This was well, for how could the proud foreigner expose
himself again to such humiliation.

"Away, away--for ever away!" she murmured to herself, and her eyes and
brow, which had been lighted up by a transient smile, once more assumed
the expression of repellent sternness which, the day before, had
so startled and angered the Roman. Soon however the severity of her
features relaxed, as she saw in fancy the young man's beseeching look,
and remembered the praise given him by the recluse, and as--in the
middle of this train of thought--her eyes closed again, slumber once
more falling upon her spirit for a few minutes, she saw in her dream
Publius himself, who approached her with a firm step, took her in
his arms like a child, held her wrists to stop her struggling hands,
gathered her up with rough force, and then flung her into a canoe lying
at anchor by the bank of the Nile.

She fought with all her might against this attack and seizure, screamed
aloud with fury, and woke at the sound of her own voice. Then she got
up, dried her eyes that were wet with tears, and, after laying a freshly
wetted cloth on the child's throat, she went out of doors in obedience
to the physician's advice.

The sun was already at the meridian, and its direct rays were fiercely
reflected from the slabs of yellow sandstone that paved the forecourt.
On one side only of the wide, unroofed space, one of the colonnades that
surrounded it threw a narrow shade, hardly a span wide; and she w